The Women Who Came in the Mayflower by Annie Russell Marble
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Annie Russell Marble >> The Women Who Came in the Mayflower
Another day of unusual interest and industry for the householders was
the Thanksgiving Day when peace with the Indians and assured
prosperity seemed to follow the ample harvests. To this feast, which
lasted for three days or more, came ninety-one Indians bringing five
deer which they had killed and dressed. These were a great boon to the
women who must prepare meals for one hundred and forty people. Wild
turkeys, ducks, fish and clams were procured by the colonists and
cooked, perhaps with some marchpanes also, by the more expert
cooks. The serious prayers and psalms of the Pilgrims were as amazing
to the Indians as were the strange whoops, dances, beads and feathers
of the savages marvellous to the women and children of Plymouth
Colony.
In spite of these peaceable incidents there were occasional threats of
Indian treachery, like the theft of tools from two woodsmen and the
later bold challenge in the form of a headless arrow wrapped in a
snake's skin; the latter was returned promptly and decisively with the
skin filled with bullets, and the danger was over for a time. The
stockade was strengthened and, soon after, a palisade was built about
the houses with gates that were locked at night. After the fort of
heavy timber was completed, this was used also as a meeting-house and
"was fitted accordingly for that use." It is to be hoped that
warming-pans and foot-stoves were a part of the "fittings" so that the
women might not be benumbed as, with dread of possible Indian attacks,
they limned from the old Ainsworth's Psalm Book:
"In the Lord do I trust, how then to my soule doe ye say,
As doth a little bird unto your mountaine fly away?
For loe, the wicked bend their bow, their arrows they prepare
On string; to shoot at dark at them
In heart that upright are."
(Psalm xi.)
Even more exciting than the days already mentioned was the great event
of surprise and rejoicing, November 19, 1621, when _The Fortune_
arrived with thirty-five more Pilgrims. Some of these were soon to wed
_Mayflower_ passengers. Widow Martha Ford, recently bereft,
giving birth on the night of her arrival to a fourth child, was wed to
Peter Brown; Mary Becket (sometimes written Bucket) became the wife of
George Soule; John Winslow; later married Mary Chilton, and Thomas
Cushman, then a lad of fourteen, became the husband, in manhood, of
Mary Allerton. His father, Robert Cushman, remained in the settlement
while _The Fortune_ was at anchor and left his son as ward for
Governor Bradford. The notable sermon which was preached at Plymouth
by Robert Cushman at this time (preserved in Pilgrim Hall, Plymouth)
was from the text, "Let no man seek his own; but every man another's
wealth." Some of the admonitions against swelling pride and
fleshly-minded hypocrites seem to us rather paradoxical when we
consider the poverty and self-sacrificing spirit of these pioneers;
perhaps, there were selfish and slothful malcontents even in that
company of devoted, industrious men and women, for human nature was
the same three hundred years ago, in large and small communities, as
it is today, with some relative changes.
Among the passengers brought by _The Fortune_ were some of great
helpfulness. William Wright, with his wife Priscilla (the sister of
Governor Bradford's second wife), was an expert carpenter, and Stephen
Dean, who came with his wife, was able to erect a small mill and grind
corn. Robert Hicks (or Heeks) was another addition to the colony,
whose wife was later the teacher of some of the children. Philip De La
Noye, progenitor of the Delano family in America, John and Kenelm
Winslow and Jonathan Brewster were eligible men to join the group of
younger men,--John Alden, John Howland and others.
The great joy in the arrival of these friends was succeeded by an
agitating fear regarding the food supply, for _The Fortune_ had
suffered from bad weather and its colonists had scarcely any extra
food or clothing. By careful allotments the winter was endured and
when spring came there were hopes of a large harvest from more
abundant sowing, but the hopes were killed by the fearful drought
which lasted from May to the middle of July. Some lawless and selfish
youths frequently stole corn before it was ripe and, although public
whipping was the punishment, the evil persisted. These conditions were
met with the same courage and determination which ever characterized
the leaders; a rationing of the colony was made which would have done
credit to a "Hoover." They escaped famine, but the worn, thin faces
and "the low condition, both in respect of food and clothing" was a
shock to the sixty more colonists who arrived in _The Ann_ and
_The James_ in 1623.
The friends who came in these later ships included some women from
Leyden, "dear gossips" of _Mayflower_ colonists, women whose
resources and characters gave them prominence in the later history of
Plymouth. Notable among them was Mrs. Alice Southworth soon to wed
Governor Bradford. With her came Barbara, whose surname is surmised to
have been Standish, soon to become the wife of Captain Standish.
Bridget Fuller joined her husband, the noble doctor of Plymouth;
Elizabeth Warren, with her five daughters, came to make a home for her
husband, Richard; Mistress Hester Cooke came with three children, and
Fear and Patience Brewster, despite their names, brought joy and cheer
to their mother and girlhood friends; they were later wed to Isaac
Allerton and Thomas Prence, the Governor.
Fortunately, _The Ann_ and _The James_ brought supplies in
liberal measure and also carpenters, weavers and cobblers, for their
need was great. _The James_ was to remain for the use of the
colony. Rations had been as low as one-quarter pound of bread a day
and sometimes their fare was only "a bit of fish or lobster without
any bread or relish but a cup of fair spring water." [Footnote:
Bradford's History of Plymouth Plantation; Bk. II.] It is not strange
that Bradford added: "ye long continuance of this diete and their
labors abroad had somewhat abated ye freshness of their former
complexion."
An important change in the policy of the colony, which affected the
women as well as men, was made at this time. Formerly the
administration of affairs had been upon the communal basis. All the
men and grown boys were expected to plant and harvest, fish and hunt
for the common use of all the households. The women also did their
tasks in common. The results had been unsatisfactory and, in 1623, a
new division of land was made, allotting to member householder an acre
for each member of his family. This arrangement, which was called
"every man for his owne particuler," was told by Bradford with a
comment which shows that the women were human beings, not saints nor
martyrs. He wrote: "The women now went willingly into ye field, and
tooke their little-ones with them to set corne, which before would
aledge weaknes and inabilitie; whom to have compelled would have bene
thought great tiranie and oppression." After further comment upon the
failure of communism as "breeding confusion and discontent" he added
this significant comment: "For ye yong-men that were most able and
fitte for labour and service did repine that they should spend their
time and strength to work for other men's wives and children without
any recompense.... And for men's wives to be commanded to doe servise
for other men, as dresing their meate, washing their cloathes, etc.,
they deemed it a kind of slaverie, neither could many husbands well
brooke it."
If food was scarce, even a worse condition existed as to clothing in
the summer of 1623. Tradition has ascribed several spinning-wheels and
looms to the women who came in _The Mayflower_, but we can
scarcely believe that such comforts were generously bestowed. There
could have been little material or time for their use. Much skilful
weaving and spinning of linen, flax, and wool came in later Colonial
history. The women must have been taxed to keep the clothes mended for
their families as protection against the cold and storms. The quantity
on hand, after the stress of the two years, would vary according to
the supplies which each brought from Holland or England; in some
families there were sheets and "pillow-beeres" with "clothes of
substance and comeliness," but other households were scantily
supplied. A somewhat crude but interesting ballad, called "Our
Forefathers' Song," is given by tradition from the lips of an old lady
aged ninety-four years, in 1767. If the suggestion is accurate that
she learned this from her mother or grandmother, its date would
approximate the early days of Plymouth history. More probably it was
written much later, but it has a reminiscent flavor of those days of
poverty and brave spirit:
"The place where we live is a wilderness wood,
Where grass is much wanted that's fruitful and good;
Our mountains and hills and our valleys below,
Are commonly covered with frost and with snow.
"Our clothes we brought with us are apt to be torn,
They need to be clouted soon after they are worn,
But clouting our garments they hinder us nothing,
Clouts _double_ are warmer than _single_ whole clothing.
"If fresh meate be wanted to fill up our dish,
We have carrots and turnips whenever we wish,
And if we've a mind for a delicate dish,
We go to the clam-bank and there we catch fish.
"For pottage and puddings and custards and pies,
Our pumpkins and parsnips are common supplies!
We have pumpkin at morning and pumpkin at noon,
If it was not for pumpkin we should be undoon."
[Footnote: The Pilgrim Fathers; W. H. Bartlett, London, 1852.]
What did these Pilgrim women wear? The manifest answer is,--what they
had in stock. No more absurd idea was ever invented than the picture
of these Pilgrims "in uniform," gray gowns with dainty white collars
and cuffs, with stiff caps and dark capes. They wore the typical
garments of the period for men and women in England. There is no
evidence that they adopted, to any extent, Dutch dress, for they were
proud of their English birth; they left Holland partly for fear that
their young people might be educated or enticed away from English
standards of conduct. [Footnote: Bradford's History of Plymouth
Plantation, ch. 4.] Mrs. Alice Morse Earle has emphasized wisely
[Footnote: Two Centuries of Costume in America; N. Y., 1903.] that the
"sad-colored" gowns and coats mentioned in wills were not "dismal";
the list of colors so described in England included (1638) "russet,
purple, green, tawny, deere colour, orange colour, buffs and scarlet."
The men wore doublets and jerkins of browns and greens, and cloaks
with red and purple linings. The women wore full skirts of say,
paduasoy or silk of varied colors, long, pointed stomachers,--often
with bright tone,--full, sometimes puffed or slashed sleeves, and lace
collars or "whisks" resting upon the shoulders. Sometimes the gowns
were plaited or silk-laced; they often opened in front showing
petticoats that were quilted or embroidered in brighter
colours. Broadcloth gowns of russet tones were worn by those who could
not afford silks and satins; sometimes women wore doublets and jerkins
of black and browns. For dress occasions the men wore black velvet
jerkins with white ruffs, like those in the authentic portrait of
Edward Winslow. Velvet and quilted hoods of all colors and sometimes
caps, flat on the head and meeting below the chin with fullness, are
shown in existent portraits of English women and early colonists.
Among relics that are dated back to this early period are the slipper
[Footnote: In Pilgrim Hall, Plymouth.] belonging to Mistress Susanna
White Winslow, narrow, pointed, with lace trimmings, and an
embroidered lace cap that has been assigned to Rose Standish.
[Footnote: Two Centuries of Costume In America; Earle.] Sometimes the
high ruffs were worn above the shoulders instead of "whisks." The
children were dressed like miniature men and women; often the girls
wore aprons, as did the women on occasions; these were narrow and
edged with lace. "Petty coats" are mentioned in wills among the
garments of the women. We would not assume that in 1621-2 _all_
the women in Plymouth colony wore silken or even homespun clothes of
prevailing English fashion. Many of these that are mentioned in
inventories and retained heirlooms, with rich laces and embroideries,
were brought later from England; probably Winslow, Allerton and even
Standish brought back such gifts to the women when they made their
trips to England in 1624 and later. If the pioneer women had laces and
embroideries of gold they probably hoarded them as precious heirlooms
during those early years of want, for they were too sensible to wear
and to waste them. As prosperity came, however, and new elements
entered the colony they were, doubtless, affected by the law of the
General Court, in 1634, which forbade further acquisition of laces,
threads of silver and gold, needle-work caps, bands and rails, and
silver girdles and belts. This law was enacted _not_ by the
Pilgrims of Plymouth, but by the Puritans of Massachusetts Bay Colony.
When Edward Winslow returned in _The Charity_, in 1624, he
brought not alone a "goodly supply of clothing" [Footnote: Bradford's
History of Plymouth Plantation, Bk. 2.] but,--far more
important,--the first bull and heifers that were in Plymouth. The old
tradition of the white bull on which Priscilla Alden rode home from
her marriage, in 1622 or early 1623, must be rejected. This valuable
addition of "neat cattle" to the resources of the colony caused a
redistribution of land and shares in the "stock." By 1627 a
partnership or "purchas" had been, arranged, for assuming the debts
and maintenance of the Plymouth colony, freed from further
responsibility to "the adventurers" in London. The new division of
lots included also some of the cattle. It was specified, for instance,
that Captain Standish and Edward Winslow were to share jointly "the
Red Cow which belongeth to the poor of the colony to which they must
keep her Calfe of this yeare being a Bull for the Companie, Also two
shee goats." [Footnote: Records of the Colony of New Plymouth In New
England, edited by David Pulslfer, 1861.] Elder Brewster was granted
"one of the four Heifers came in _The Jacob_ called the Blind
Heifer."
Among interesting sidelights upon the economic and social results of
this extension of land and cattle is the remark of Bradford:
[Footnote: Bradford's History of Plymouth Plantation, Bk. 2.] "Some
looked for building great houses, and such pleasant situations for
them as themselves had fancied, as if they would be great men and rich
all of a suddaine; but they proved castles in air." Within a short
time, however, with the rapid increase of children and the need of
more pasturage for the cattle, many of the leading men and women
drifted away from the original confines of Plymouth towards Duxbury,
Marshfield, Scituate, Bridgewater and Eastham. Agriculture became
their primal concern, with the allied pursuits of fishing, hunting and
trading with the Indians and white settlements that were made on Cape
Cod and along the Kennebec.
Soon after 1630 the families of Captain Standish, John Alden, and
Jonathan Brewster (who had married the sister of John Oldham), Thomas
Prence and Edward Winslow were settled on large farms in Duxbury and
Marshfield. This loss to the Plymouth settlement was deplored by
Bradford both for its social and religious results. April 2, 1632,
[Footnote: Records of the Colony of New Plymouth In New England,
edited by David Pulslfer, 1861.] a pledge was taken by Alden,
Standish, Prence, and Jonathan Brewster that they would "remove their
families to live in the towne in the winter-time that they may the
better repair to the service of God." Such arrangement did not long
continue, however, for in 1633 a church was established at Duxbury and
the Plymouth members who lived there "were dismiste though very
unwillingly." [Footnote: Bradford's History of Plymouth Plantation,
Bk. 2.] Later the families of Francis Eaton, Peter Brown and George
Soule joined the Duxbury colony. Hobomok, ever faithful to Captain
Standish had a wigwam near his master's home until, in his old age, he
was removed to the Standish house, where he died in 1642.
The women who had come in the earlier ships and had lived close to
neighbors at Plymouth must have had lonely hours on their farms in
spite of large families and many tasks. Wolves and other wild animals
were sometimes near, for traps for them were decreed and
allotted. Chance Indians prowled about and the stoutest hearts must
have quailed when some of the recorded hurricanes and storms of 1635
and 1638 uncovered houses, felled trees and corn. In the main,
however, there was peace and many of the families became prosperous;
we find evidence in their wills, several of which have been deciphered
from the original records by George Ernest Bowman, editor of the
"Mayflower Descendants," [Footnote: Editorial rooms at 53 Mt. Vernon
St., Boston.] issued quarterly. By the aid of such records and a few
family heirlooms of unquestioned genuineness, it is possible to
suggest some individual silhouettes of the women of early Plymouth, in
addition to the glimpses of their communal life.
CHAPTER III
MATRONS AND MAIDENS WHO CAME IN THE MAYFLOWER
It has been said, with some justice, that the Pilgrims were not
remarkable men, that they lacked genius or distinctive personalities.
The same statement may be made about the women. They did possess, as
men and women, fine qualities for the work which they were destined to
accomplish,--remarkable energy, faith, purpose, courage and
patience. These traits were prominent in the leaders, Carver and
Bradford, Standish and Winslow, Brewster and Dr. Fuller. As assistants
to the men in the civic life of the colony, there were a few women who
influenced the domestic and social affairs of their own and later
generations. From chance records, wills, inventories and traditions
their individual traits must be discerned, for there is scarcely any
sequential, historic record.
Death claimed some of these brave-hearted women before the life at
Plymouth really began. Dorothy May Bradford, the daughter of Deacon
May of the Leyden church, came from Wisbeach, Cambridge; she was
married to William Bradford when she was about sixteen years old and
was only twenty when she was drowned at Cape Cod. Her only child, a
son, John, was left with her father and mother in Holland and there
was long a tradition that she mourned grievously at the separation.
This son came later to Plymouth, about 1627, and lived in Marshfield
and Norwich, Connecticut.
The tiny pieces of a padded quilt with faded threads of silver and
gold, which belonged to Rose Standish, [Footnote: Now in Pilgrim Hall,
Plymouth.] are fitting relics of this mystical, delicate wife of "the
doughty Captain." She died January 29, 1621. She is portrayed in
fiction and poetry as proud of her husband's bravery and his record as
a Lieutenant of Queen Elizabeth's forces in aid of the Dutch. She was
also proud of his reputed, and disputed, inheritance among the titled
families of Standish of Standish and Standish of Duxbury
Hall. [Footnote: For discussion of the ancestry of Standish, see "Some
Recent Investigations of the Ancestry of Capt. Myles Standish," by
Thomas Cruddas Porteus of Coppell, Lancashire; N. E. Gen. Hist.
Register, 68; 339-370; also in edition, Boston, 1914.] There has been
a persistent tradition that Rose was born or lived on the Isle of Man
and was married there, but no records have been found as proofs.
In the painting of "The Embarkation," by Robert Weir, Elizabeth
Barker, the young wife of Edward Winslow, is attired in gay colors and
extreme fashion, while beside her stands a boy of about eight years
with a canteen strapped over his shoulders. It has been stated that
this is the silver canteen, marked "E. W.," now in the cabinet of the
Massachusetts Historical Society. The only record _there_ is
[Footnote: Massachusetts Historical Society Proceedings, iv, 322.]
"presentation, June, 1870, by James Warren, Senr., of a silver canteen
and pewter plate which once belonged to Gov. Edward Winslow with his
arms and initials." As Elizabeth Barker, who came from Chatsun or
Chester, England, to Holland, was married April 3, 1618, to Winslow,
[Footnote: England and Holland of the Pilgrims, Dexter.] and as she
was his first wife, the son must have been a baby when _The
Mayflower_ sailed. Moreover, there is no record by Bradford of any
child that came with the Winslows, except the orphan, Ellen More. It
has been suggested that the latter was of noble lineage. [Footnote:
The Mayflower Descendant, v. 256.]
Mary Norris, of Newbury in England, wife of one of the wealthiest and
most prominent of the Pilgrims in early years, Isaac Allerton, died in
February of the first winter, leaving two young girls, Remember and
Mary, and a son, Bartholomew or "Bart." The daughters married well,
Remember to Moses Maverick of Salem, and Mary to Thomas
Cushman. Mrs. Allerton gave birth to a child that was still-born while
on _The Mayflower_ and thus she had less strength to endure the
hardships which followed. [Footnote: History of the Allerton Family;
W. S. Allerton, N. Y., 1888.]
When Bradford, recording the death of Katherine Carver, called her a
"weak woman," he referred to her health which was delicate while she
lived at Plymouth and could not withstand the grief and shock of her
husband's death in April. She died the next month. She has been
called "a gracious woman" in another record of her death. [Footnote:
New England Memorial; Morton.] She was the sister or sister-in-law of
John Robinson, their pastor in England and Holland. Recent
investigation has claimed that she was first married to George Legatt
and later to Carver. [Footnote: The Colonial, I, 46; also
Gen. Hist. Reg., 67; 382, note.] Two children died and were buried in
Holland in 1609 and 1617 and, apparently, these were the only children
born to the Carvers. The maid Lois, who came with them on _The
Mayflower_, is supposed to have married Francis Eaton, but she did
not live after 1622. Desire Minter, who was also of the Carver
household, has been the victim of much speculation. Mrs. Jane
G. Austin, in her novel, "Standish of Standish," makes her the female
scapegrace of the colony, jealous, discontented and quarrelsome. On
the other hand, and still speculatively, she is portrayed as the elder
sister and house keeper for John Howland and Elizabeth Tilley, after
the death of Mistress Carver; this is assumed because the first girl
born to the Howlands was named Desire. [Footnote: Life of Pilgrim
Alden; Augustus E. Alden; Boston, 1902.] The only known facts about
Desire Minter are those given by Bradford, "she returned to friends
and proved not well, and dyed in England." [Footnote: Bradford's
History of Plymouth Plantation; Appendix.] By research among the
Leyden records, collated by H. M. Dexter, [Footnote: The England and
Holland of the Pilgrims.] the name, Minter, occurs a few
times. William Minter, the husband of Sarah, was associated with the
Carvers and Chiltons in marriage betrothals. William Minter was
purchaser of a house from William Jeppson, in Leyden, in 1614. Another
record is of a student at the University of Leyden who lived at the
house of John Minter. Another reference to Thomas Minter of Sandwich,
Kent, may furnish a clue. [Footnote: N. E. Gen. Hist. Reg., 45, 56.]
Evidently, to some of these relatives, with property, near or distant
of kin, Desire Minter returned before 1626.
Another unmarried woman, who survived the hardships of the first
winter, but returned to England and died there, was Humility
Cooper. We know almost nothing about her except that she and Henry
Sampson were cousins of Edward Tilley and his wife. She is also
mentioned as a relative of Richard Clopton, one of the early religious
leaders in England. [Footnote: N. E. Gen. Hist.; iv, 108.]
The "mother" of this group of matrons and maidens, who survived the
winters of 1621-2, was undoubtedly Mistress Mary Brewster. Wife of the
Elder, she shared his religious faith and zeal, and exercised a strong
moral influence upon the women and children. Pastor John Robinson, in
a letter to Governor Bradford, in 1623, refers to "her weake and
decayed state of body," but she lived until April 17, 1627, according
to records in "the Brewster Book." She was only fifty-seven years at
her death but, as Bradford said with tender appreciation, "her great
and continuall labours, with other crosses and sorrows, hastened it
before y'e time." As Elder Brewster "could fight as well as he could
pray," could build his own house and till his own land, [Footnote: The
Pilgrim Republic; John A. Goodwin.] so, we may believe, his wife was
efficient in all domestic ways. When her strength failed, it is
pleasant to think that she accepted graciously the loving assistance
of the younger women to whom she must have seemed, in her presence,
like a benediction. Her married life was fruitful; five children lived
to maturity and two or more had died in Holland. The Elder was "wise
and discreet and well-spoken--of a cheerful spirit, sociable and
pleasant among his friends, undervaluing himself and his abilities and
sometimes overvaluing others." [Footnote: Bradford's History of
Plymouth Plantation.] Such a person is sure to be a delightful
companion. To these attractive qualities the Elder added another proof
of tact and wisdom: "He always thought it were better for ministers to
pray oftener and divide their prayers, than be long and tedious in the
same."